A three-day test involving primarily WSB regulars proved AMA Superbike champ Mat Mladin is clearly quick enough to run at the front in Europe. Indeed, Mladin easily posted the quickest lap time of the three-day event – besting World Champ Troy Corser by more than half a second.
To be fair, Mladin is an Australian who is not unfamiliar with Phillip Island, and was undoubtedly running his AMA-spec Dunlop race rubber, rather than WSB-spec Pirellis. Nevertheless, Corser (also an Australian) is intimately familiar with Phillip Island as both a practice and race venue. Also left in Mladin’s wake were other big names, including Yukio Kagayama and former MotoGP racer Norick Abe.
These results do not bode well for Mladin’s AMA competition in 2006. The six-time champ will be looking for an unprecedented seventh title, and he is certainly the odds-on favorite to get it.
